A Personal Tribute

A Personal Tribute to my Wife, Margaret Froneberger McBride

1948-2021  

 

Throughout her life, and especially over the past sixteen years when she was almost always in varying degrees of pain, Peggy was always smiling and always trying to bring laughter to everyone she met.  She laughed at her jokes, and the medical professionals she stopped and distracted from their duties always seem to laugh with her.

“Two boys were in hospital beds next to each other, and one asked the other, “What are you in for?”  “I’m getting my tonsils out,” the other boy said.  “Oh, that’s great, I had my tonsils out, and they gave me all the ice cream I could eat.  And why are you here?”  “I’m going to be circumcised.”  “Oh, that’s terrible,” the first boy said.  “I was circumcised when I was a baby, and it was a year before I was able to walk.”  And if they tarried, she had several more she would share.  

She was diagnosed with non alcoholic liver disease several years ago and given a prognosis of only a year or two to live, so she decided to plan her own funeral, which she proceeded to do, down to the very last scripture reading   The first thing she did, of course, was order her own urn (below on left) and the picture of how she wanted to be remembered to be displayed next to it (below on right.) She wanted to be cremated so at least once in her life she would be a smoking hot babe.

She also wrote her own obituary.  Although the woman over planned for almost every contingency, as she had always done as a kindergarten teacher, no one foresaw her death.  She suffered from liver disease and was scheduled to be evaluated for a transplant in a week or two.  If successful, it could have added ten years to her life.   But she was having difficulty breathing and walking so we went to the ER at Catawba Memorial Hospital.  She was tested non COVID, but they treated her for the breathing problem and she was breathing on her own. But several days after admission her kidneys began to fail, irreversibly.  And it was from that that she died, hepatorenal syndrome.  This was a woman who despite living in daily pain had a strong will and a strong reason and a very strong desire to live.  While for some death might have come as a relief — she loved and never gave up on life.

Margaret “Peggy” Froneberger McBride in her own words

“Margaret ‘Peggy’ Froneberger McBride, of Hickory, left this earth into the arms of the Lord Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021.

Peggy was born in Gaston County, to the late Gene and Pansy Froneberger and enjoyed her childhood in Bessemer City. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her son, Curtis Sean McBride.

She was a beloved and devoted wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She taught school in Burke County Public Schools for 32 years. Peggy had a generous heart and a happy spirit. She loved to share laughter with all who met her.

Peggy is survived by her husband, Guy M. McBride of Hickory; daughter, Lori Fox Muse; son-in-law, Tim Muse; grandson, Tyler Muse, all of Columbus, N.C.; her brother, Al Froneberger, his wife, Paneen; and nieces and nephews of Clover, S.C.

Her family was her greatest joy. Peggy will have joy now too, as she walks with the Lord.

Memorials may be made to Carolina Caring Hospice; or The Salvation Army.”

The funeral service for Peggy was scheduled as noted above and live streamed on Bass Smith’s Facebook page.    She had written a song for her niece to sing to the tune of Hallelujah.  And she had picked out a song, Broken Halos, for her grandson to sing during the service.  She had additionally written her own eulogy for her daughter to read and had accumulated a bunch of one-liners for her best friend to read a few of which appear below. 

You can’t spell funeral without fun

Do not take life too seriously.  You will never get out alive.

Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.

I was cremated in hopes for a smoking hot body.

I try to contain my crazy but the lid keeps popping off

The service, originally live streamed, was recorded and posted on the Bass Smith Facebook page.  As in life, Peggy got in the last word(s).

Her ministers had been asked by a mutual friend to make a visitation, and they had, they said, looked forward to meeting us.  But, our preacher said, “I was there for only fifteen minutes when I realized I wasn’t there for a visitation.  I was there for an interview.”  They agreed to provide whatever service she wanted,  and they had even approved the inclusion of Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”  sung by Brian in the “Life of Brian” as he is being crucified.  It was vintage Peggy.  Eventually she decided a few of the words were a bit too irreverent for a funeral service and dropped it from the program.  “When the Saints Come Marching In” filled the space.  It was also vintage Peggy and one of her long time favorites.

Peggy had planned extensively in order to make her passing easier for us.  However, she had expected to die two years earlier and kept adding to her plan book, a thick notebook that seemed to get thicker and thicker.  Out of our many photo albums, old and new, Peggy had finally “culled” about 500 pictures to be displayed at the receiving.  Our daughter, Lori,  reduced the numbers to about one fifth of Peggy’s selection a task that literally took her several days.  Snapshots of the display boards are in the photo folders under this heading.  Family, her grandson Ty, her beloved dog Carly, and travel memories are all represented.  (Peggy was Carly’s favorite person, and Carly followed her wherever she went.  While I bought cans of people chicken for the dog, Peggy would go to Chick Fil A or order stew beef from the Snack Bar to add variety to her diet.  Canned chicken was okay but not really good enough for her little girl.)

Two boards had to be devoted to Ty.  Every year as he was growing up, she took pictures of all his activities and then put them in a photo album for him to look at and remember.  Only a few of those hundreds of pictures are represented here.  Oh, and a lot of the sayings are on Winnie the Poo cards, also collected by Peggy.  But it wasn’t Winnie she liked the most; it was EEyore.  

And who on earth would have party favors at a funeral.  Peggy had them at hers  —  a box of small “worry stones” with words (“Joy,”  “Believe”) and phrases (“I am loved”) she had hand painted on them for people to take home as souvenirs. 

Guy